Sorry about that, I got my dates mixed up. How time flies.
I was asked at the time we discussed this topic to poll the WebAim group to get people's opinions about this, and the decision was done back then to reflect this.
http://webaim.org/discussion/mail_message?id=31054
Bryan Garaventa
Accessibility Fellow
Level Access, Inc.
Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com
415.624.2709 (o)
www.LevelAccess.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan Garaventa [mailto:bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2017 10:45 AM
To: tink@tink.uk; Taliesin Smith <talilief@gmail.com>
Cc: Tobias Bengfort <tobias.bengfort@posteo.de>; WAI IG <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: RE: non-landmark forms
" It is worth mentioning that using <form aria-label="This form"> or <form aria-labellledby="that"> will not give the form an accessible name either."
Hi Leonie, I agree this doesn't do so now, but this was decided about six months ago in the UAIG meetings with Rich, Jonie, and Joseph for this to be true.
Bryan Garaventa
Accessibility Fellow
Level Access, Inc.
Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com
415.624.2709 (o)
www.LevelAccess.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Léonie Watson [mailto:tink@tink.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2017 10:27 AM
To: Taliesin Smith <talilief@gmail.com>
Cc: Tobias Bengfort <tobias.bengfort@posteo.de>; WAI IG <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Re: non-landmark forms
On 02/08/2017 14:56, Taliesin Smith wrote:
> Hi Léonie,
>
> So just to be clear so that I understand, too.
> In Tobias’s case using the form element without an explicit
> aria-labelledby attribute, or without an explicit aria form role
> attribute, would keep the form as a non-landmark form?
Almost!
The only way to create a form landmark is to use role="form". So <form role="form">, <div role="form">, or (if you're using SVG) <g role="form">, will all create form landmarks.
Using the <form> element on its own does not create a landmark, and neither will a <form> element with an accessible name. So <form aria-label="this form"> or <form aria-labelledby="that"> will not create landmarks either.
It is worth mentioning that using <form aria-label="This form"> or <form aria-labellledby="that"> will not give the form an accessible name either.
So for Tobias' use case, the <form> element on its own is the right solution, unless there is a good reason for giving each form on the page an accessible name in order to tell them apart.
If that is the case, then the only solution is to use the form role, then aria-label or aria-labelledby to provide the accessible name. This will turn every form into a landmark though, which may well turn out to be more hinderance than help to screen reader users!
The code would be something like <form role="form" aria-label="This form">.
Bear in mind that the ARIA design patterns are not talking about situations where implicit element semantics apply. When it talks about a form landmark, it assumes you are using role="form" to explicitly set the role using ARIA. The advice to provide accessible names is therefore also based on the assumption the form role will have been explicitly set.
HTH
--
@LeonieWatson @tink@toot.cafe tink.uk Carpe diem